Conventional stage lighting control consoles make use of a plurality of control elements arranged on a panel and each controlling a specific function of the console. The control elements may include push-button or multi-position switches, and rotary and linear motion potentiometers. The designer of the console decides during the design operation exactly what lighting function each switch or potentiometer will control and the operator of the console has very little choice about how he uses the console.
Modern stage lighting has become more and more complex in recent years and consoles are required to control a large number of different functions. A lighting unit may, for example, have built in systems for remote control of intensity, beam direction, beam spread, colour variation, gobo positioning and rotation and other functions. Lighting designers require to make use of all these functions in different combinations and it has therefore become very difficult to provide an ergonomic console layout which will satisfy all the lighting designers varying needs.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a control console which is capable of being readily reconfigured to allow it to be used in a variety of different ways.
In accordance with the invention there is provided a stage lighting control console including a panel, a plurality of control elements mounted on said panel and including manually actuable switch elements and manually adjustable control elements and an electronic control system controlled by said switch element and manually adjustable control elements for producing output signals for controlling a multiplicity of independently controllable functions of a plurality of remote lamp units, said electronic control system including function allocation means for determining which of the switch elements and manually adjustable control elements exercise control over each one of the functions of the lamp units, said function allocation means being under the control of a user of the console utilizing selected ones of the switch elements.
The individual switch elements may incorporate in built display devices which are controlled by the electronic control system to provide a display appropriate to the current function of the switch element.
The panel may also include a plurality of further display areas adjacent individual switch elements or control elements or adjacent groups of such element to display alphanumeric information indicating the current function of the associated switch or control element or the associated group of such elements.
Preferably, the panel comprises a plurality of sub-panels each with a different arrangement of switch elements, control elements and display areas, each sub-panel having its own associated processor unit for controlling the display areas of that sub-panel and the console including a main processor unit which communicates with the sub-panel processor units.
With this arrangement, the user is able to determine for himself the relative locations of the sub-panels.
Preferably, there is provided a dual-port memory unit which is connected to the main processor unit and to all the sub-panel processor units, such memory unit being used to store switch and control element operation data and display data, the main processor unit reading from the memory unit the switch and control element operation data and writing to the memory unit display data, and the sub-panel processor units writing switch and control element operation data to the memory unit and reading therefrom the display data.
The invention also resides in a stage lighting console comprising the combination of a panel, a plurality of user input control elements on said panel, a main processor unit for processing data input by a user to generate a multiplicity of data message blocks to be sent respectively to a multiplicity of individually controllable lamp units, and a distribution unit including a multiplicity of individual serial communication controllers for connection to respective ones of the lamp units, first data bus means connecting said main processor unit to said distributor unit for transferring said message data blocks to said distribution unit and second processor means for distributing the data contained in said message data blocks to said individual serial communication controllers.
Preferably, the main processor unit has main RAM in a portion of which it stores said message data blocks, and said distribution unit has a plurality of blocks of dual port RAM into which the contents of said portion of the main RAM can be copied over said first data bus under the control of said second processor means.
For controlling transfer of data from the blocks of dual port RAM to the associated serial communication controllers, there are preferably a plurality of third processors units each associated with a different one of the blocks of dual port RAM and with a different group of the serial communication controllers.
Each of said third processor units is programmed to transfer data from the associated block of dual port RAM to the serial communication controllers of the associated group in an interleaved byte-by-byte fashion, each serial communication controller transmitting each byte on receipt thereof.